Countries around the world are undertaking enormous efforts to vaccinate against COVID-19. The hope is that the vaccination will allow for a full return to economic activity and recovery. When it comes to international tourism, the prospects for a quick recovery remain very uncertain. Regional or international agreements on vaccine passes are still lacking. Current travel bubbles between places with low COVID-19 risks are rare and fragile. Going forward, countries need urgently to come together to establish harmonized protocols that ease international travel. International travel is not only important for the tourism sector, but for international business and cooperation in general.
The introduction of COVID-19 vaccines in December 2020 raised hopes that vaccine passes could help accelerate the recovery of the travel and tourism sector. As long as vaccines would provide sufficient immunity and avoid transmission, it was expected that it would allow travelers to move across borders without lengthy quarantine and testing requirements. - blog.adb.org/blogs
A version of this article appears in the print on July 20, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
